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Thompson Igunma’s UF-INL research is creating unique models for molten salt reactors
Igunma
American Nuclear Society member Thompson Odion Igunma is a doctoral candidate in materials science and engineering at the University of Florida (UF) conducting research in collaboration with the Computational Mechanics and Materials Group at Idaho National Laboratory. His work focuses on advanced modeling of the complex interplay between molten salt corrosion, irradiation, and changes in alloy microstructure.
“I see molten salt reactors as a pivotal part of the next generation of nuclear energy,” Igunma said. “Their unique combination of safety, efficiency, and fuel flexibility makes them ideally suited to complement renewables in a low-carbon energy mix.”
20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-20)
With more than 30 years of experience in both academia and industrial research, Dr. Yang is a recognized expert in reactor thermal-hydraulics and nuclear safety, advanced fuel design and qualification, rod bundle CHF and multiphase flow measurements, subchannel analysis, CFD simulation, acoustic wave propagation, online Real-Time Transient Modeling (RTTM), and leak detection in multiphase flow pipelines. Dr. Yang began serving as Director at Columbia University’s Heat Transfer Research Facility (CU-HTRF) from 1993 to 2002. He served as senior exclusive advisor for Westinghouse/ABB/Toshiba group from 2002 to 2012. From 2012 to 2017, Dr. Yang was appointed as a professor and the Dean of the School of Nuclear Science and Technology at Xian Jiaotong University (XJTU) in China. Dr. Yang also served as the Chief Scientist of CGN, China (2012 to 2018). During his professional career he has provided technical advice to various industrial, government, and academic institutions, including Aramco (Saudi), CNNC, CNPC, Ecopetrol, INER (Taiwan), KNFC (Korea), Kurchatov Institute (Russia), Mitsubishi (Japan), NPIC (China), Petrobras (Brazil), Shell (Nigeria), SINOPEC, Taiwan Power, USDOE, Westinghouse. He is the Chief Scientist and Co-Founder (2019) of Delta Energy Group in New York (DEGNY) and Qingdao (DEQD). He also serves as the director of DEQD Institute for Advanced Research in Multiphase Flow and Energy Transfer (DiAME). With over 300 publications and patents, Dr. Yang has served as the Chief Guest Editor for NED, NSE, NT, STNI, and Kerntechnik, and has been serving in the Editorial Board of NED since 2015. As the TPC Chair, Dr. Yang successfully organized the 1st and 2nd International Seminar on Subchannel Analysis-CHF and CFD (ISACC) in 2013 and 2015 respectively. In 2018, as the TPC Co-Chair, he helped to expand ISACC to IS-ReCTHA to include various topics on reactor core thermalhydraulics. In 2017, as TPC Chair, Dr. Yang successfully organized NURETH-17 with over 800 papers and 1,000 participants. Dr. Yang also organized/co-organized over 30 other international conferences and workshops, and he was the invited keynote speaker for several international conferences. In 2022, he was the General Co-Chair of NUTHOS-13 and Steer Committee Co-Chair for NURETH-19. Currently, he also serves as the General Co-Chair for three different international conferences: NURETH-20 (2023, Washington DC), NUTHOS-14 (2024, Vancouver), and ATH-2024 (Orlando, FL).
Dr. Yang was awarded NURETH Fellow (2019), the Excellent in Review Award (2021), and the highest technical achievement award from ANS THD, TAA (2022). He is the current Chair of ANS-THD (2022-2023).
Last modified March 27, 2023, 11:38am EDT
